Green Thumb Farm Huntington CSA

Happy Summer!

FYI – Our CSA is on Thursdays (except the week of Thanksgiving where it’s on Wednesday) from 3:30pm to 7:30pm (if you need to come after 7:30pm call the CSA at 631-385-1079 on Thursdays from 3pm to 7:30pm to make last minute arrangements for alternate pickups).

If you can’t use these wood chips, do you know anyone who might? CSA member Sonam Kushner (and Homeopath extraordinaire) still has a bunch of wood chips for the taking. Take what you want on a tarp in the back of your car, or rent or drive a truck for larger quantities! If interested, respond to this email and I’ll put you in touch with Sonam. She’s suggesting it’s good for around trees or in a playground area.

Any holistic moms out there? Vickie Muller, our CSA member who started the Holistic Moms Network’s Huntington, NY Chapter, is looking for one or two women to be co-leaders of this terrific group. If you’re interested, or can think of anyone who would be, please respond to this email and I’ll get you in touch with her (or go to the next meeting tonight…see the events listings…or next month) and you can talk to Vickie about the details of what would be involved.

Bulk Certified Organic Paste (Roma) Tomatoes available from our farm…$45 per 20 lb box (to place an order, call the farm at 631-726-1900 between 9am to 5pm and be ready to pay with a credit card).

Here’s some Tomato talk from the folks at the NYC Greenmarkets…
Forget proper storage, eat this fruit immediately! We suggest tomato sandwiches, mozzarella and tomato salad, tomato soup, tomato pie, salsa, gazpacho, tomato sauce, tomato juice, fried green tomatoes and plain old tomatoes eaten as is, or with a dash of salt. If you get a little overwhelmed by this steady diet, follow the lead of Greenmarket staff and host a tomato canning party at your house. Each September we pile into our co-worker's Brooklyn backyard and set up an assembly line to scald, peel, seed and can as many flats as we can get our hands on. If a perfect, local tomato is a treat in September, it's a bona fide treasure in the middle of March!

We could use a LOT more CSA members! If each of us (we’re now 56) managed to find three more members our farmer would be VERY happy. We now have till the week after Labor Day to accept new members. After that, we’re talking April of 2013. If each of us got one more member to join, that would be great, and if THEY got one more member…you get the idea. Even ideas of where to leave CSA brochures or posters, and where to do lectures about CSA would be helpful. So far this season I participated in the 1st LI CSA Fair, the 2nd LI Small Farm Summit, and a health fair at the Vitamin Shoppe in Melville, gave a lecture to the Holistic Moms Network about eating local and just put an ad (VERY reasonably priced) in the brochure for a charity auction for the local Montessori School.

This week’s email includes…

1. Your CSA does not need you this week, however…
2. Happy friggin’ Organic Harvest Month redux!
3. Bags and you
4. This week’s list…subject to change without notice (farming is like that)
5. Notes from the Farm
6. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
7. Click here and help change our world!
8. Italian vs Japanese Eggplants
9. What you actually got last week
10. And now…for something completely different


1. Your CSA does not need you this week, however…

You can ALWAYS stop by the CSA a little before 3:30 or 5:30 to offer to help in case someone doesn’t show up (or is late) without letting anyone know…life happens! 

If you didn’t get a confirmation email from Judi (occasionally it’s me), you’re not scheduled to work this week.



2. Happy friggin’ Organic Harvest Month redux!

Another rebuttal of the Stanford article on organics…
http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/the-real-reason-reason-the-stanford-organic-food-study-was-a-fraud/

September is also Childhood Cancer Awareness Month…how ironic that the agribiz PR flacks have also chosen to go on the attack on organic food during September’s Organic Harvest Month!

And fear is being ramped up about WNV so people will slather themselves up with DEET and demand being sprayed aerially (most of which doesn’t get to the bugs they want to kill) or by street trucks (where everyone has more of a chance of developing cancer due to exposure than of dealing with the problems involved with a mosquito population that’s out of balance)…
The stuff they’re spraying has this in it…
http://www.ewg.org/release/duke-study-confirms-toxicity-widely-used-pesticide-ingredient

An alternative point of view…
http://www.healthychild.org/blog/comments/protect_your_family_from_west_nile_virus/



3. Bags and you

The short story is make sure to bring bags to pack your CSA food as the CSA does not provide them.

Suggestion…put bags (paper/plastic/cloth) in EVERY vehicle you own. Put them in the glove compartment, trunk, wherever, and make sure to replenish them when the supply is running low or you’re out of them. That way it will be hard to forget them.

And, if someone is picking up for you, please remind them about bringing bags with them.



4. This week’s list…subject to change without notice (farming is like that!)

Week #21
September 13, 2012

1. Tomatoes
2. Squash, Winter: Acorn
3. Beets
4. Eggplant: Japanese
5. Leeks
6. Okra

Total Items: 6 (?)

Herb Share – Sept A
Rosemary AND Savory, Winter



5. Notes from the Farm

September 1, 2012

Happy Labor Day!

This marks the beginning of the end for all those wonderful summer vegetables. As the days get shorter, and the nights cooler, the summer’s bounty will be slowly ending over the next month. We still have many Tomatoes, Summer Squashes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Eggplants and Beans, but as September happens, all these will decline in productivity.

Winter Squashes…Acorn and Butternut…are still growing well. You can expect these by the month’s end. Our Sweet Potatoes will be dug by the end of the month, so these also will start to arrive. Flea Beetles have destroyed much of our early greens…Tat Soi, Arugula, Broccoli Raab and Mustards. So, we’ll have to wait until (hopefully) early October for all of these. We’re still picking Carrots, Scallions, Leeks and Beets, as well as some culinary herbs which will all be brought in over the next month.

Deer have eaten our Celery crop which had been looking very nice up till last week. Once the deer discovered they liked Celery, the whole cop was eaten to the ground within days.

The challenges continue…

Organically Yours,
Farmer Bill (Halsey)



6. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
.
Saturday, September 1st to Sunday, September 30th

The 3rd Annual NY Locavore Challenge!
For more info and to register:
http://www.nofany.org/events/ny-locavore-challenge

Challenge yourself to eat more local foods and get active, or more active, in the locavore world that’s all around you!


Thursday, September 13th

10am to 11am

iEat Green
http://prn.fm/shows/lifestyle-shows/i-eat-green/

iEat Green is hosted by Slow Food Huntington’s Bhavani Jharoff. Listen to this internet radio show either live or if you miss this show, you can listen to it on the archives and it’s available for downloading on iTunes for your iPhone.

Today’s guest will my guest will be Sherry Ackerman. Sherry is the author of "The Good Life", a guide to finding personal freedom and a blueprint for a sustainable and fulfilling lifestyle.

6pm

iEat Green’s Farm to Table Cooking Series: Fish
Old Westbury
$89
To register email:
Bhavani
Bhavani@iEatGreen.com

7pm

Virtual Back to School Night: The School Day Just Got Healthier
To sign up for the live webcast event…
http://psav.mediasite.com/Mediasite/Login/Register?ReturnUrl=%2Fmediasite%2FPlay%2Fd4673cc4f37d416387cfe7e71975c2e91d
This event will feature a panel discussion about the exciting new meals coming to school cafeterias and how parents can navigate these changes and support their children and schools in making healthy choices.
Jessica Donze Black, project director for the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project, will moderate the conversation with the following:
• Betsy Landers, President, National PTA
• Sam Kass, White House Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives
• Audrey Rowe, Administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
7pm

Queen of the Sun
The Ethical Humanist Society of LI
38 Old Country Rd
Garden City
$10

Movie about bees hosted by the beekeepers at Crossroads Farm at Grossman’s in Malverne.


Saturday, September 15th

10am

2nd Annual NYC Honey Festival
Rockaway Beach
FREE ($20 for festival dinner at the end of the day)
For more info and directions:
http://www.nychoneyfest.com/festival

Beekeeping, beer, local eats, kids activities…fun for all!


Monday, September 17th

7:30am

Millions Against Monsanto Rally
Good Morning America Studio
Times Square
44th and Broadway
NYC
For more info and action…
http://organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm
And to get on their email list…
gcu_manhattan@occupy-monsanto.com


Tuesday, September 18th

7pm

Huntington Food Share – Food Not Bombs
Fairground Ave and E 6th St (outside of All Weather Tires)
Huntington Station
For more info and to get involved:
http://www.lifnb.com/chapters/huntington_food_share

Distribution of food and clothing to all who attend and are in need.


Wednesday, September 19th

6pm

The Educated Eater: What’s Behind the Label
The New School
Wollman Hall
65 W 11th St.
NYC
FREE
To RSVP and get your ticket:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/251020

Our decisions about the food we purchase are governed by a variety of factors: taste, price, ethics, safety, and more. What do labels like 'organic,' 'natural' and 'hormone free' communicate about how that food is raised or grown, and how do farmers determine which, if any, certifications are right for them? This Greenmarket Educated Eater panel discussion will delve into the questions of what certifications mean for small family farms. Greenmarket producers will expound on popular certifications such as Certified Naturally Grown and organic, why they did or did not choose to become certified, and how it affects their growing practices.


Thursday, September 20th

10am to 11am

iEat Green
http://prn.fm/shows/lifestyle-shows/i-eat-green/

iEat Green is hosted by Slow Food Huntington’s Bhavani Jharoff. Listen to this internet radio show either live or if you miss this show, you can listen to it on the archives and it’s available for downloading on iTunes for your iPhone.

Today’s guest will my guest will be Perryne Lokhandwala and Paula Lee Poy of PlayHarvest. PlayHarvest is a grassroots organization focused on harnessing the creative force of community-based design, the dynamic power of outdoor play, and the energizing benefits of locally grown foods to motivate kids to live healthier, more active lives.

7pm

Dive
The Ethical Humanist Society of LI
38 Old Country Rd
Garden City
$10

Movie about dumpster diving for food hosted by Jon Stepanian of Food Not Bombs (where our CSA donates any excess produce).


Friday, September 21st

6pm

The Healthy Planet Radio Program
WUSB-FM 90.1FM
Or listen online:
http://www.wusb.fm/stream


Saturday, September 22nd

Farm Aid
Hersheypark Stadium
PA
$37.75 to $101.46
For more info:
http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.2723605/k.C7B8/Concert.htm
For ticket info:
http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.5307325/k.93C0/Ticket_Info.htm?msource=concert

So far it’s Willie, Neil, John, and Jack Johnson and Dave Mathews…and more!

1pm

Backyard: Fruit from Small Gardens
Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
630 Bedford Hills Rd
Pocantico Hills, NY
$18 Member/$20 General Public
For more info and to get tickets:
http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/products/backyard-fruit-for-small-gardens.html

Join fruit master, Lee Reich, in a lecture about how to include fruit in a growing space as small as a city apartment balcony to a small suburban backyard.


Sunday, September 23rd

10am

Edible Garden Festival with a Mario Batali Cooking Demo and dinner
NY Botanical Garden
$25 to $250
To get tickets:
http://secure4.gatewayticketing.com/NYBG/Content.aspx?Kind=LandingPage

Take part in a day-long festival of Edible Garden fun exploring Mario Batali's Kitchen Gardens, cooking demonstrations by NYBG staff, gardening activities, and food samplings in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. Then join Garden friend Mario Batali at the Conservatory Tent for a demonstration of fresh, seasonal family dishes inspired by Mario Batali's Kitchen Gardens. Want more Mario? With a different ticket type, you can do all of the above followed by cocktails in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden and an intimate garden-to-table dinner at the Lillian and Amy Goldman Stone Mill. Mario will enjoy the meal with you and share anecdotes, memories, inspirations, and background information about the four-course menu he has designed.


Thursday, September 27th

7pm

Forks over Knives
The Ethical Humanist Society of LI
38 Old Country Rd
Garden City
$10

Movie about healthy vegetarian/vegan eating hosted by Judy Griffin, founder of Nourishing Solutions 4 LIfe.


Saturday, September 29th

10am

9th Annual LI Garlic Festival
Garden of Eve
4558 Sound Ave
Riverhead
$3/Children under 6 FREE
For more info:
http://www.gardenofevefarm.com/garlic-festival.htm

Food, crafts, music, theater and….GARLIC!


Sunday, September 30th

10am

9th Annual LI Garlic Festival
(see Saturday, September 29th)

5:30pm

Potluck Across New York
Glenwood Church
70 Grove St
Glenwood Landing
FREE (bring a dish to share…it’s a potluck)
For more info:
https://sites.google.com/site/seacliffcooperative/home/events

As part of the 3rd Annual NY Locavore Challenge (organized by NOFA-NY), Slow Food Huntington (co-founder is CSA member Ann Rathkopf), Sustainable Sea Cliff Cooperative, and the Glenwood Arts group organized a potluck! Please join us for an evening of conviviality and lively discussion. Topics will include our industrialized food system, GMO's, fracking, our own community garden and how we can create and support a healthy, local food system.


Wednesday, October 3rd

6pm

Let Us Eat Local
The Altman Building
135 W 18th St
NYC
$175 (before October 3rd…after $200)
For more info and to get tickets:
http://luel.eventbrite.com/

This event is a benefit for Just Food, the group that organizes CSA in all five boroughs of NYC, in addition to being involved in the City Chickens project, City Farms and getting more local food into food pantries as well as being involved in fighting hunger in NYC. They do great work and are a great bunch of folks. This will be a locavore’s delight if you see the list of participating restaurants.


Thursday, October 4th

7pm

Holistic Moms Network Monthly Meeting (Huntington, NY Chapter)
Elwood Public Library
1929 Jericho Tpke (on the northeast corner of Jericho and Elwood Rd…in the strip mall where a Blockbuster used to be)
E Northport
FREE
For more info:
www.holisticmoms.org
Email: huntingtonhmn@aol.com
Check them out on Facebook…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Holistic-Moms-Network-Suffolk-County-Huntington-Area-NY-Chapter/399399243443967

Join CSA member Vickie Muller (co-founder of this chapter) at this month’s meeting!


Saturday, October 6th

2pm to 5pm

Growing Backyard Fruits, a Workshop and Tasting
387 Springtown Rd
New Paltz, NY 12561
$35
To register:
Mail a check to Lee Reich at the above address and include your email address and phone number in case of the need to cancel due to severe weather
Questions:
Email Lee: leeareich@gmail.com
Call Lee at 845-255-0417

Join fruit master, Lee Reich, in his garden. You can harvest DELECTABLE, ORGANIC, NO-SPRAY FRUITS right in your own BACKYARD. This workshop will cover which hardy fruits are best and easiest to grow, and how to grow them. Participants will also get to taste luscious fruits such as pawpaws, persimmons, hardy kiwifruit, and whatever else is ripe (grapes?, pears?, aki-gumi?, lingonberry?, medlar?)!
Check out his blog and website for other events…
http://leereich.com/
http://leereich.blogspot.com/


Wednesday, October 10th

6:30pm

Plant a Healthy School Lunch…
The NY Coalition for Healthy School Food’s Fall Gala
NY Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Ave (at 103rd St)
NYC
$100
For more info about NY Coalition for Healthy School Food:
http://www.healthylunches.org/
For more info about the gala:
http://www.healthylunches.org/events.htm

Ex-Long Islander Amie Hamlin is the Executive Director of this organization, and Joy Pierson (of Candle Café and Candle 79) is their board chair. A lot of the food at this event will be organic, local, vegan and raw (check the website and look who’d providing it).


Saturday, October 12th

8:30am

Holistic Moms Network presents…
9th Annual Natural Living Conference
Chicago, IL
$80 Member/$90 General Public/$45 child over 3 (lunch included)
For more info and to register:
http://register.holisticmoms.org/2012_HMN_NLC.pdf

Celebrate holistic parenting with special guests Andrea Beaman (natural foods chef, author, tv host and Top Chef contestant..and she cured herself of thyroid disease thru diet and natural methods) and Barbara Loe Fisher (National Vaccine Information Center Co-Founder). Learn…share…connect!


Friday, October 19th

6pm

The Healthy Planet Radio Program
WUSB-FM 90.1FM
Or listen online:
http://www.wusb.fm/stream


Tuesday, October 23rd

6pm

Taste of the Harvest
Crest Hollow Country Club
Jericho Tpke
Woodbury
$295
For more info and to buy tickets:
http://www.islandharvest.org/page.aspx?name=fundraisingevents&eventid=123

Island Harvest is celebrating 20 years of service fighting hunger and touching lives, and honoring Stop and Shop.


Wednesday, October 24th

Food Day!
For more info and to get involved…
http://www.foodday.org/

5pm

The Future of Food: 2050
US Capitol Visitor Center
Washington, DC
For more info and to get involved…
http://www.foodday.org/

What will we be eating in the year 2050? How will that food be produced? Where is the food movement going? Food Day’s national marquee event conference will bring together forward-thinking experts on agriculture policy, nutrition, and sustainability to discuss the future of Americans’ diet and food system.


Thursday, October 25th to Sunday, October 29th

Salone del Gusto & Terre Madre
Turin, Italy
For more info and to get tickets:
http://salonedelgustoterramadre.slowfood.com/

This is Slow Food’s biannual international event in the land where the organization Slow Food began…Italy! CSA member Ann Rathkopf (one of the founders of Slow Food Huntington) will be attending, and she’s been there before, so ask her if you have any questions.


Saturday, October 27th

7pm

Dr. Helen Caldicott…the medical and political implications of Fukushima
Healthy Planet
Sweet Hollow Hall
Gwynne Rd
Melville
$???
For more info, reservations and directions:
631-421-5591
http://www.healthy-planet.org/


Sunday, November 18th

9am

The NAVAL Expo
Huntington Hilton
Melville
$20
For more info (if you look at the last one they had in May you’ll get an idea of what they’ll have in November) and to buy tickets:
http://www.navelexpo.com/expo.php

All day alternative health expo with many lectures, demo, samplings, etc including Steve Meyerowitz, the Sproutman! More info TBA.

Afternoon (more info TBA)
Turkey Free Thanksgiving Dinner/Lecture
Healthy Planet
Sweet Hollow Hall
Gwynne Rd
Melville
$???
For more info, reservations and directions:
631-421-5591
http://www.healthy-planet.org/



7. Click here and help change our world!

Want to support access to raw milk? Sign this petition! They’re looking for another 2,000 signatures. Watch the video…
http://www.change.org/petitions/big-government-persecution-of-small-farmer-alvin-schlangen

Join the Right to Know Campaign to label GMO food…even though we’re not in California and can’t vote on the upcoming proposition you can lend support by joining and/or contributing…
http://www.carighttoknow.org/join

Sign petition in solidarity with the United Farm Workers for striking Walmart warehouse workers in California…
http://takeaction.walmartwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6549

Tell the EPA to protect pollinators!!! They need to stop allowing the use of a pesticide very toxic to bees…
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1881/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8377

Protect and support conservation programs on farmland…
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5735/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=6599

Tell the USDA to stop rubberstamping GMO crops…
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_rubberstamping_GMOs/?rd=1&t=4&referring_akid=624.31784.94uLMj



8. Italian vs Japanese Eggplants

The other week we got Eggplants at the CSA that were listed on the wall chart as “Italian” but they sure as heck looked like Asian or Japanese ones to me. They were dark purple (the color of the usual Italian Eggplant) but had the shape of Asian/Japanese ones…long and thin and curved.

Left a message on the answering machine at the farm asking Farmer Bill about this and got the answer (we mostly communicate by messages left on an answering machine because he doesn’t communicate by cell phone and it’s challenging to coordinate our schedules…mostly his ever changing schedules as to when he gets to work and gets out into the fields where he’s incommunicado, gets back to the farmstand around mid-day and when he leaves, and it’s more reliable than leaving messages with the other folks at the farmstand).

They were indeed a new variety (to the farm…not sure if it’s a new variety to the planet  …and if it is, it’s one that was created by old school hybridization techniques…which technically is called genetic modification…rather than the new more problematic and troubling methods of genetic modification that many of us are protesting).

And…they’re Italian! The giveaway is the color. The dark purple is a hallmark of the Italian Eggplant.

Farmer Bill said he might give us the traditional Japanese or Asian Eggplants this week.



9. What you actually got last week

Week #20
September 6, 2012

1. Tomatoes, Mini: Grape, Red OR Grape, Yellow – 1 pint - $4.25
2. Squash, Summer: Costata Romanesco, Eight Ball, Gold, Yellow, Zucchini – up to 1 lb – weighed with…
3. Peppers, Sweet: Mix – up to 1 lb - $5.00
4. Cilantro – 1 bunch - $2.50
5. Snap Beans, Green – 2/3 lb - $2.25
6. Scallions – 1 bunch - $2.75
7. Tomatillos* – up to 1 lb - $2.50

Total Items: 7
Total Amount: $19.25 (We pay $17.50 per week to our farmer for the food we get every week. Today we’ve gotten $1.75 extra, making the total extra that we’ve received from our farmer [over and above the $17.50 we pay per week] for the year so far $24.25 – doesn’t include Aug 9th)


*
Salsa Verde
1 pt Tomatillos**, cooked and drained
¼ cup Cilantro, chopped
2 cloves Garlic
1 small Onion, coarsely chopped
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Lime or Lemon
chopped Green Chili Peppers, like Jalapeno (use your own judgment on quantity depending on how hot you like it)

Combine ingredients in blender and blend till smooth. This sauce may be frozen.

**
To cook Tomatillos, remove husk, wash in cold water for 20 seconds (as you should every produce item), place in cold water and bring slowly to a boil to prevent the skins from splitting and then bring the heat down to a simmer and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, strain and drain the cooking water.

But this gal says to boil for 5 minutes…I’d probably go with her advice…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRpkiMyYAkg

Don’t want to boil/blanch your Tomatillos? Here’s a broiled Tomatillo version…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/health/nutrition/13recipehealth.html

More info (boil 5 minutes to blanch or till soft) and more recipes…
http://whatscookingamerica.net/tomatillos.htm



10. And now for something completely different…

Sandwich that lasts for two years! My main initial concern is about the iron filings…
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/12/14/143722936/how-the-army-made-a-sandwich-that-stays-fresh-for-two-years

And if that wasn’t enough, a new preservative will make milk “fresh” on the shelf for THREE YEARS!!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8700622/Fresh-food-could-last-for-years.html

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